Boardwalk or central park balcony?

[rummenroman]

Which would you rather have a boardwalk or central park balcony on the Allure? Also does the balcony discount count towards those rooms?

[dacsmom]

Although I am an oceanview fan, Central Park will be quieter. With Boardwalk balconies you can sometimes hear the activities in the Aqua Theater. Now if I could get a Boardwalk Balcony that had a good view of the Aqua Theater I would grab that one first.

Edited March 20, 2014 by dacsmom

[Paulette3028]

Which would you rather have a boardwalk or central park balcony on the Allure? Also does the balcony discount count towards those rooms?

 

From our experience balcony discounts DO count towards these rooms -- and they should. We booked a Central Park balcony on the June 29, 2014 sailing and received our C&A balcony discount.

 

Since on all of our prior cruises a balcony was oceanview, we decided this time to try something different. We thought having a balcony overlooking Central Park would be more like being in a high rise in a big city....and we often refer to these cruise ships as 'floating cities'.

[murcor]

We did the Oasis Boardwalk Balcony in Jan. Deck 8, 2nd stateroom from the end #8327.

Although reviews said it was loud we were very excited, we like to people watch and thought the noise wouldn't bother us.

 

We had an excellent view of the aqua show and the water off the aft of the ship....but rarely used the balcony as it was incredibly loud!

 

Inside the room the noise didn't bother us at all.

 

Sent from my GT-S7560M using Forums mobile app

[mulan1123]

It does depend if you prefer to look down and watch all the activities on Boardwalk or just relax with a quiet view.

 

We had a Boardwalk balcony on the 14th deck. It was actually quiet for the most part. My brother was able to watch a movie from our balcony, and the view was great for the aqua theater. If you go to bed earlier, you may hear the music from the shows but it's muffled.

 

It was fun to people watch!

[luv2go1]

We were just on Oasis last week and stayed in a Boardwalk balcony on Deck 12. We loved the view and the nearby public balcony, but there was a lot of noise from the teen area in the evenings until around 1:00AM. For that reason, next time we are going to try a Central Park balcony.

[thejewgernaut]

I've sailed in both. The balcony discount has applied for us (Diamond member). For demographic purposes, I'm 32 and cruised on Oasis four times in the past five years, per my signature block. The first two cruises on Oasis for me were Central Park, last two were boardwalk and the next on Allure we booked boardwalk again.

 

Central Park is quieter, but if you're higher up, you WILL hear the pool deck, which is only an issue on sea days, but you WILL hear it from your state room in the morning. It won't be horrible, but it's not as quiet as you'd think. Balconies closer to the "ground" (Deck 10) it's less noticeable. For some people, it may be disorienting to not see the water, but it didn't bother me, but I don't get motion sickness.

 

Boardwalk is much more fun, but a key aspect for us has been having a room where you can see the Aquatheater. Our last two cruises we were 4 rooms from the theater (10723 and 8723), and this year we're actually the end cabin (9729, quite excited). You end up being able to see the movies they play, and most of the aqua theater show (you can't see about 20% of the stage from the 10723) Boardwalk IS noisy -- although by 11:30 or so at night it's usually pretty quiet. We stay out late so it's never an issue for us. Like Central Park, higher rooms you can hear the Sports Deck - which is not as loud as the pool, but you can hear it. We started hearing it on Deck 10 (which for Boardwalk is "higher" than Central Park) -- we're back down to 9 this year (we were 8 the first year). I also like that you can see the water, albeit just some of it.

 

I think Central Park is the best part of the Oasis class ships -- I love the restaurants, the uniqueness of the live foliage, and the bars. That said... I actually prefer the Boardwalk balcony, IF you can get one that is closer to the Aquatheater. If you can't get one that has a good view, I'd go with Central Park. For both to control noise overall, I think being closer to the ground is the most important thing.

[mek]

We were in a Central Park balcony on Oasis in October and agree with the previous poster - Central Park balconies at times are not as quiet as you might think. We were on deck 10 and there was noise from the pool and at times, canned music from somewhere above was very loud. We still loved the Central Park location and would book one again. It was a great value and we were able to use our balcony discount.

[Caneschic]

We originally booked a Central Park balcony for our upcoming cruise in July but switched it to a Boardwalk balcony.

 

We were afraid that looking at trees and balconies for a week wouldn't be all that exciting. Same goes for an ocean balcony room...endless ocean views to South Floridians isn't all that appealing to us :)

 

I really enjoyed seeing some water and also people watching when we had a Boardwalk room on a previous cruise.

 

Agree with previous posters about noise. It can be a little noticeable at times but we selected a room with the bed closer to the bathroom as opposed to the balcony so I'm hoping this will help.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

 

 

Allure of the Seas - March 2011, March 2012, upcoming July 2014

[Paulette3028]

I've sailed in both. The balcony discount has applied for us (Diamond member). For demographic purposes, I'm 32 and cruised on Oasis four times in the past five years, per my signature block. The first two cruises on Oasis for me were Central Park, last two were boardwalk and the next on Allure we booked boardwalk again.

 

Central Park is quieter, but if you're higher up, you WILL hear the pool deck, which is only an issue on sea days, but you WILL hear it from your state room in the morning. It won't be horrible, but it's not as quiet as you'd think. Balconies closer to the "ground" (Deck 10) it's less noticeable. For some people, it may be disorienting to not see the water, but it didn't bother me, but I don't get motion sickness.

 

Boardwalk is much more fun, but a key aspect for us has been having a room where you can see the Aquatheater. Our last two cruises we were 4 rooms from the theater (10723 and 8723), and this year we're actually the end cabin (9729, quite excited). You end up being able to see the movies they play, and most of the aqua theater show (you can't see about 20% of the stage from the 10723) Boardwalk IS noisy -- although by 11:30 or so at night it's usually pretty quiet. We stay out late so it's never an issue for us. Like Central Park, higher rooms you can hear the Sports Deck - which is not as loud as the pool, but you can hear it. We started hearing it on Deck 10 (which for Boardwalk is "higher" than Central Park) -- we're back down to 9 this year (we were 8 the first year). I also like that you can see the water, albeit just some of it.

 

I think Central Park is the best part of the Oasis class ships -- I love the restaurants, the uniqueness of the live foliage, and the bars. That said... I actually prefer the Boardwalk balcony, IF you can get one that is closer to the Aquatheater. If you can't get one that has a good view, I'd go with Central Park. For both to control noise overall, I think being closer to the ground is the most important thing.

 

We were in a Central Park balcony on Oasis in October and agree with the previous poster - Central Park balconies at times are not as quiet as you might think. We were on deck 10 and there was noise from the pool and at times, canned music from somewhere above was very loud. We still loved the Central Park location and would book one again. It was a great value and we were able to use our balcony discount.

 

Thank you for both of your perspectives. We will be on Allure for the June 29 sailing on Deck 11 overlooking Central Park. Our house has a park behind our backyard, which has basketball games, roller bladers, normal park activity complete with music and noise.....so hearing sounds from the pool or music....no issue. To me it sounded like it would be a very small sampling of city living, if I lived overlooking Central Park....and that isn't even a real wish for me.....big city living isn't my style, except for a taste of it, on vacation MAYBE.

[OCruisers]

We were actually quite happy with our Boardwalk balcony location. We could see the ocean and the Aqua show from ours. Not hot and stuffy because it was totally open from above with lots of air flow. Noise was not a problem for us (just close and lock the balcony door). Seldom anything going on after 11 PM anyway.

On the downside ... inside space was quite small with a very inconvenient closet beside the bed.

LuLu

~~~

[riclop]

Yes discount applies to both we like CP because its so quiet at night.

[ehfl]

We loved our Boardwalk balcony. You can watch the Aquashows, and see the ocean. There is good airflow to keep things cool (unlike Central Park which can get stuffy). Not much noise on the balcony, and none with the door closed.

[Cruisin' Along]

Good thread! We too have been thinking about whether to do a Boardwalk or Central Park balcony on the Oasis. It's helpful to read the pros and cons of cabin locations in these two areas. I hadn't thought about noise from the top deck reaching several decks down.

[grandgeezer]

We've done both the Central Park balcony and the Boardwalk balcony, and found them both too noisy for our liking, with the boardwalk one being louder. We would not do them again. If the ocean view balconys were too expensive, we would go with a regular ocean view cabin.

[Sam.Seattle]

Don't forget to close your curtains!

[labeachcomber]

If you don't mind a lot of people staring at you and a constant flow of people, then go for the Boardwalk balcony.

 

If you're self-conscious and want perhaps a bit more privacy, then choose Central Park, since the volume of people walking through Central Park is not nearly the amount on the Boardwalk.

 

I think choosing a Boardwalk balcony towards the end just so you can watch the show is a bit overrated. IMO, you'll want to actually be in a seat in the actual Aquatheater in order to get the full experience.

 

If you're in Central Park, you can sit out on your balcony at night and enjoy the string quartet and the music while enjoying a glass of wine. And the fact that it's pretty dark means that people can't easily see you, so you might be able to relax a bit more.

[rummenroman]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions. You have given us a lot to mull over for the next week or two until our TA is on X to book this cruise. I'm guessing that will do a boardwalk because you can see the ocean from the aft ones. We are balcony snobs, but first and foremost I'm a price snob, so this seem like it will give us the best of both worlds!

[rummenroman]

Don't forget to close your curtains!

 

Now you are taking all the fun out it :eek::D:eek::D:eek::D

Edited March 21, 2014 by rummenroman

[Sam.Seattle]

Now you are taking all the fun out it :eek::D:eek::D:eek::D

You might be right! We have sat in the Concierge lounge and have seen more than we should have... And the folks in the rooms seem to be clueless that they can be seen so easily.

[Chicagocrooza]

Boardwalk is more action packed and you will have a view of the ocean at the aft of the ship, Central Park is quiet, more elegant with lots of dining venue, you do not see the water but you see the sky above.

[thjeepster]

We usually like having an oceanview balcony....enjoy watching the water and ports.

 

If we had to pick out of boardwalk or central park....I would pick boardwak and would have to get an end balcony closest to the aqua theater so we can get an awesome view of the ocean also.

 

I think central park would be very quite and nice to look at but I'm a type who needs to see the ocean while I'm on a cruise!!!!